Remember the Medicus from years ago? The SKLZ Refiner series are clubs with a similar concept. The Refiner Driver is a hinged training driver which shows breakdowns in your swing.

Two huge factors in the golf swing are tempo and swing plane.

Tempo

Many players’ tempos are way too fast or jerky at different points in the swing. The Refiner driver breaks down when the following tempos are too quick:

Take away tempo

Top of the swing pause

Start of the downswing

Pronation or follow through

I thought I had a very smoothly timed wing, but the Refiner had a different story. I found that my takeaway was too quick. My “normal” swing had the hinge breaking down between the start of my takeaway and the first foot or two back. I really thought I was slow and smooth here but I wasn’t. Since adjusting that small part of my swing I’m hitting the ball higher and father. The rest of my swing was fine, according to the Refiner.

Swing plane

If you swing the club with a bad swing plane the Refiner will also break down. This helps players get on plane, especially slicers. If you are coming outside in, the usual cause of a slice, the Refiner will let you know.

You can actually hit shots with the Refiner Driver, as seen in the video below

While out testing a myriad of golf gear on a cold cold day at the south range of my home course my pal and mini tour pro Luke Swilor stopped by. I put Luke to work testing the Refiner. Luke is a high level player and I was anxious to see what happened in his swing with this unit.

In the video below Luke and I test out the Refiner and give some off the cuff reactions and opinions. Luke crushes the Refiner, almost hitting the the range shack on the north end of the range. I might add there was a head wind as well. That answers the question, “can you hit real shots with this thing?”

Conclusion

For hammering out swing plane and especially tempo issues, I’ll always keep the Refiner handy. I’m sure if things go a bit bad with my swing, the Refiner can tell me where the breakdowns are occurring.